Town Square

Storer named new Danville mayor; council honors local contributors

Original post made
on Dec 5, 2013

The Danville Town Council and scores of residents honored key local contributors and celebrated as Councilman Robert Storer took the mayoral helm Tuesday night during the yearly mayor's installation and community service awards presentation.

@Dan: Many people would disagree with you, Dan. Were you at the Town's hearings on the 2030 General Plan? How about the hearings on the Gulag Elworthy being built by KB Homes? Did you follow the hearings leading up to the Council's recent approval of SummerHill Homes appalling 69-home residential development for the traffic-choked Diablo Road area? Nearly all of the thousands of people in attendance at those hearings have the view that the Council has not done a good job in recent years.

In fact, the Town and Council are being sued because of the Council's recent approval of the SummerHill development, which was in violation of ballot Measure S that requires voter approval of residential developments on land designated in the General Plan for Agricultural use.

No, Dan, everything is not right in Danville. The fact that Storer, the developer/owner of Danville high-density housing, is now the mayor says it all. Ever talk to him at the Farmers' Market? He is a real hothead.

Arnerich and lackies......everything you touched turned into high density, traffic congestion, little progress on the Danville hotel project and community anger. Yeah, you all did a great job...... for the developers.......not the residents of Danville. Looks like it's more of the same with Storer too.

I don't know Mr. Storer at all and it's entirely possible that he is a "good man" in plenty of ways. I am friendly with one of the other council members myself. But none of that means that they or the other three are good for Danville.
It has been stated on these boards that Storer is either a developer, or works for one. Is this true? I know that he was a former planning commissioner. Did his tenure date back to when Elworthy was being proposed, or did it come after? If it was concurrent, that's a big problem for me.
And now, I guess we have a vacancy on the council? I shudder with horror to think who will fill the seat. Perhaps we can get a Kauffman-Broad V.P. to make sure things stay completely corrupt.
By the way Dan, where can I buy what you're smoking? Some days a little reprieve from reality would be nice for me too.

Posted by wised up
a resident of Charlotte Wood Middle School
on Dec 5, 2013 at 5:21 pm

@Derek: Storer was appointed in 2009 when he ran unopposed for the Council. Before that he had been appointed to finish Mike Shimansky's term. Prior to that, he was a Planning Commissioner. So he must have been on the Commission when Elworthy was approved in 2007, I believe.

Storer approved the SummerHill project in June. Like Elworthy, the SummerHill project required a public vote, which the Council refused to allow. Both the Elworthy and the SummerHill projects are abominations. Danville voters have got to stop electing developers like Storer to Council.

Posted by C. R. Mudgeon
a resident of Danville
on Dec 5, 2013 at 5:48 pm

I don't know new Mayor Robert Storer, and will therefore reserve judgement. But it is a "fact of life" that many of the people who run for town council positions do so because they are motivated by specific issues, and therefore have some degree of conflict-of-interest on those issues. This is why we have fire-fighters (or ex fire-fighters) running for fire district boards (that negotiate their contracts), teachers (or ex-teachers, or spouses of teachers) who run for school boards, and real estate developers who run for planning commissions and town councils. Looking at the backgrounds of candidates is always important. I'm also of the opinion that Danville's "rotating mayor" process, where the town council members pick who gets the next "turn" as mayor, is not really in the best interests of residents, as it makes the mayor less accountable to voters.

Posted by Council watcher
a resident of Danville
on Dec 5, 2013 at 7:34 pm

@CR MUDGEON: I hope you will start getting to know Storer. He has been on Council for over 4 years and on the Planning Commission before that and has done a lot of damage around Town that will echo forever into the future. You will be voting whether he stays on Council next November.

You one issue people make me laugh. A few homes get approved and you have a heart attack. An extra minute, or two, to get where you are going and you'd think the world is coming to an end. Let's be real, you've got yours now let's keep everyone else out.

Yes, I did attend some of those meetings and found massive over reaction. Yes, I have talked to Mayor Storer and found him to be thoughtful and even tempered.

Since Julia wants to take a trip down memory lane let's talk about the 1950s when a national magazine described Danville as having one of the ugliest down towns in America. No more.

Why is Julia "from Alamo" concerning herself with a few Danville homes. Must like to see her name in print.

Posted by another voter
a resident of Danville
on Dec 8, 2013 at 11:47 am

No one elected Robert Storer to be a Council member. Three of the current members appointed him.

Storer will lose in November 2014 when the voters finally get a chance to vote on whether they want someone that built and owns high-density housing in Danville to be making decisions about future such projects in Danville.

Storer is a member of the ABAG Board that is responsible for requiring Danville to redesignate dozens of acres in Danville for high-density housing. Wake-up Danville residents! Elect someone that will not have Storer's mindset and interest in building to Council!

Posted by Tree topper
a resident of Danville
on Dec 10, 2013 at 4:17 pm

I am disappointed to see so many residents as upset they are with our new mayor. He is a very decent person and has the best interest of Danville at heart. Danville does not live in a vacuum; things are going to eventually creep into the community if we are to keep pace with even minor growth. Comments indicate that Mayor Storer built and owns high-density housing in Danville. One should take a closer look as to what it is. One building, 22 units, occupied by seniors, handicapped, and the disabled. I don't think he should be criticized for that. Yes, he was appointed by the Town Council to fill the vacancy left by the death of Mike Shimansky. Yes, he was subsequently appointed to the council for a full term. But…realize that both he and Karen Stepper were running for the two seats on the council and were running "unopposed". To run a campaign (even for this small city (not really a Town)) it would cost approximately $55,000. A truly stupid idea to spend that money if one is unopposed. The town council showed some smarts in appointing them both without each of them spending a lot of cash.
Julia, I'm glad you live in Alamo
The rest of the naysayers, give the guy a chance. There will be an election coming up. If he isn't doing the right things by and for Danville, well……………………

Dan and Tree Topper what part of Danville do you live in? If it's along the Blackhawk Road corridor I can take your comments more seriously. More than 4500 Danville residents signed a petition stating that the town of Danville should follow the language of Measure S and give the voters the right to approve any projects which require a change from open-space to clustered housing. Unfortunately the petition was disqualified due to a technicality.

Throughout the lengthy planning commission and town council hearings, all of the input from the residents was "blown off. ". Unfortunately now the situation has devolved into a lawsuit. This is regrettable but the residents along the Diablo Blackhawk Road corridor have no other choice.
Why doesn't the Town Council listen to these residents and prevent Summerhill from being another Ellworthy disaster?

It is so disheartening to read so many nasty and untrue comments. There is spin in politics, but I didn't think it happens at the town level. Mr Storer is a nice person who cares about Danville. He wants to keep this town as pleasant, beautiful and safe as possible. It takes a lot of work and courage to put yourself out there like he and the other town council have done. Calling any of them "lackies" shows how people are disrespectful and only express it anonymously.

Tony, for starters, Blackhawk and Diablo aren't in Danville - They are unincorporated county areas like Alamo. And its the County's bad planning which created the traffic issues which everyone is complaining about - not the city. The traffic generated by the Summerhill project won't be a pimple on the butt of the traffic load in your area. Blackhawk is the problem, not Danville.

And I get a kick out of the guys tarring Storer as a "high density developer." Google him, folks - he's a contractor who repairs and remodels houses. Web Link As far as I can tell his company's only "development" was the building with apartments for seniors and handicapped people at the end of Hartz by the freeway. Not exactly Nathan Shapell, eh?

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